Here’s everything that happened on episode 18.

By Grace Henry

Published: Friday, 23 June 2023 at 12:00 am


It was finally time for the single islanders to get into their new couples, after this week’s twist saw Love Island stars Jess Harding, Sammy Root, Mitchel Taylor and Leah Taylor having to split up without the option to recouple at the next recoupling.

As new Love Island 2023 contestants, Mal Nicol and Montel McKenzie were given the chance to choose first, after which the rest of the islanders made their choices.

But, there was to be more drama on the way, as Love Island teased the return of season 2 star Kady McDermott.

Didn’t get to tune into Love Island last night? Well, we have a video recap as well as detailed breakdown below.

For more from the Love Island villa, check out episode two of The Love Island Lowdown, where we ran through the events from the past week and what we expect to happen now that Jess and Sammy.

What happened on Love Island summer 2023 last night? Episode 18 recap

To celebrate the newbies, the islanders played a game of Never Have I Ever, which led to Zachariah Noble revealing that he’d cheated in the past, which the girls struggled to move on from.

“One a cheater, always a cheater!” Jess shouted, to which Ella Thomas agreed.

Mitchel then stood up for Zach, telling the islanders that he didn’t need to admit anything.

Following the game, Tyrique Hyde pulled Ella aside and told her he’d back her in public, but she got carried away in the chat. She then went to speak to Zachariah and apologise, but Mitch insisted that she was egging the situation on.

The game must have inspired something in Mehdi Edno, because he then went to speak to Leah and admitted he wanted to get to know her. This didn’t go down well with Whitney Adebayo, who then decided to have a chat with Montel.

The next day, Molly Marsh and Zach went on their first date, during which he revealed that his mum would like her.

Taking a break from skating, Molly opened up to Zach, saying: “I am very, very happy. Everyday I’m just getting more and more closed. I don’t see anything changing right now, except everything getting stronger.”

He replied: “You’ve completely took me by surprise.”

During the day, Whitney pulled Mehdi for a chat and told him he couldn’t give both her and Leah 100 per cent, and that’s just not how it works.

Later that evening, the islanders received a text telling them to gather around the fire pit. It was now time for a recoupling, in which Mal and Montel would get to pick first.

Montel decided to couple up with Leah, while Mal chose Sammy.

Jess was next, and she decided to couple up with Mitchel as the others remained in the current partnerships. When it came to Whitney, she admitted that things had changed between her and Mehdi, but that she was hoping they could still make things work.

Love Island airs on ITV2 at 9pm. You can watch all previous seasons of Love Island on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial.

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